Sejunction theory by Marcelo Cetkovich

“Sejuncton theory” (Pichot 1983; Shorter2005), also referred to as “sejuncton hypothesis” (Franzek 1990), postulates that psychopathological symptoms result from interruption (“sejunction”) of associative connections in the brain. It was put forward by Carl Wernicke, in 1900, in the 12th lecture of his Textbook of Clinical Lectures in Psychiatry (Wernicke1900). The “theory ” is conceptually derived. It is built on Wernicke’s adoption of Griesinger’s “psychic reflex” as the basis of mental activity and his notion that the nature of psychopathology is determined by the site of an assumed severance in the path of the “psychic reflex”. (Griesinger 1843; Wernicke 1906).